She hovered in the air a little bit while the catbird threw an answer back, but Liora didn't really care to answer anymore. I mean, yeah, maybe Liora had kind of started it by mocking the catbird, but was that REALLY grounds for attacking her?! Liora was just stating the obvious! Whatever! She grunted and uttered an avian hiss at the cat, and when she lunged, Liora attempted to dive out if the way. But her wings caught on the air and she couldn't turn fast enough. Like a parachute resisted by wind, Liora's body hung back and promptly sunk under the catbird's weight. "KRAK!! GET OFF ME!!! I'M GONNA BE THE KING GET OFF ME YOU FILTHY PEASANT!!!" Liora shrieked, thrashing. On her stomach, it was virtually impossible for her to fight back or escape, but maybe...

The bird paused for only a second before flailing her wings at the sides of her body and crying out. "YOU'RE HURTING LIORA!! OWWWWW YOU'RE HURTING ME!! IT HURTS!! PLEASE IT HURTS!!!" Liora wailed, twisting her body in a desperate attempt at freedom. You can bet your ass that the second the weight is lifted, Liora's gonna dart for freedom.

Round 4/5
Attacks: Feigning pain
Defense: n/a
Injuries: bruised body probably

Suddenly, she had the upper claw. Just as suddenly, the black bird was squawking about pain. Oh, she hadn't wanted to really hurt her! Just, rough her up, give her a hard time- teach her respect. Cure had never been so fragile! The twins had fought, but never had either wailed so pitifully. For a moment, Remedy stiffened- she stayed in place, but more carefully, kept her claws from piercing skin.

"NO! Shut up and LISTEN, dumb black bird!" Liora was thrashing though, shifting and moving about so wildly, it was hard to keep a hold of her. Remedy didn't mean it, but her claws slipped out again, fastening her grip. Still struggling, Remedy had had just about enough of this bird! She reached forward with her own beak and...

...promptly jabbed at Liora's face with her beak, aiming for her skull- and hopefully avoiding her eyes.

"You were mean to me! That's not fair! I can fly! I just did! No fair, no fair, no fair!"

Round: 4/5
Attacks: PECK YO FACE
Defenses: Steadfastly pinning, but with less weight down and less claw contact.
Injuries: Getting tired, scratched face, bruises on right shoulder and hip.

@Liora

Needless to say, Liora didn't hear anything the catbird was saying. She was too busy flailing her wings and her body, trying to escape and shrieking at the top of her lungs for the hybrid to get off of her. To some extent, she was telling the truth. The larger Gembound's weight was pretty harsh on her delicate bird bones. If she was any larger, there was a good chance she really could have broken something. That being said, her weight was more an inconvenience than a real pain, but Liora wasn't gonna let onto that. And the fact that the catbird wouldn't let up only served to add more fuel to the fire. Liora's cries grew louder, more desperate, and more in pain until the catbird leaned forward and jabbed her face.

The pain exploded across her nerves. It was a sharp puncture, a stab, in the skin right between her eyes. The feeling stunned her into silence, her beak gaping in shock. White eyes pinned to her opponent. Then they distanced. In that moment, tears sprung to her eyes. She neglected whatever else the hybrid had to say, sucking in a ragged breath and shrieking out,

"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!!!"

With Liora on the ground and crying between Remedy's paws, she had to admit, the evidence would be pretty damning.

Round 5/5
Attacks: HAMMIN IT UP
Defenses: n/a
Injuries: oW!! My poor hot bod!!!!

@Azazel @Krakarak

The shocked expression on the other bird's face was more than worth the punishment Remedy was sure she'd get later. However, where tears welled up and she cried for her father, Remedy felt a pang of guilt. She screwed up her face, refusing to let it change her actions, her goals. She wanted an apology! She'd get one, some way or another! The hybrid parted her beak to bare her fangs.

"Teach you not to mess with people for no reason!" She snarled, a feline sound in exchange for her otherwise chirpy nonsense. She didn't have the adult vocal cords to sound quite as fierce as her father could, but the rumble was still bone-shakingly dark compared to her other sounds. "Say you're sorry! Be nicer to me!" She shrieked, digging in her claws again. "Then I'll let you up!"

Character: Liora Age: +2 (2 Cycles) Magic Level: +1 (Fledgling) ROUND 1 Attempt: +16 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +3 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +4 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +11 Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +16 Penalties: -0 Total: 53

Character: Remedy Age: +3 (3 Cycles) Magic Level: +1 (Fledgling) ROUND 1 Attempt: +15 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +4 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +14 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +13 Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +0 Penalties: -0 Total: 50

WINNER: Liora

Azazel heard the cries before, but he had dismissed them as the roughhousing of Ashtoreth and Liora. But no. Ignoring the sounds was a terrible idea. The Bone King simply continued in his quest for a meal and a bone to devour. Usually, he'd eat three or four bones after he awakened to keep himself nourished, but not fattened on the bones... not that you could get that fat off them*.

Another cry ran out, more distressed and noticeable. It was the sound of Liora. Liora made many different noises. Among them were, KRAK, KRAKAW, KRAWK, LEWOOORA, HAH! You get the point. This was a cry of distress. Azazel was bad at detecting a fake damsel in distress. The cry was pretty convincing, but when he flew towards the source.

The sight was very convincing. He had landed behind the duo since that was where he came from, and he cried out once as he jumped forth and wrenched the birbcat from his progeny, grasping her scruff with his beak and hoisting her upwards. Leaving his daughter for the moment, he carried the small felid towards a bone pile, depositing her on top of it, feathers ruffled. Taking off his skull helm, he narrowed his eyes at the child. "Remedy, I thought you were better than this? You're in time out on the..." he stopped and looked down, taking a step back, "naughty bone pile."

Azazel was oblivious of the fact that Liora had just now put on a show for her own amusement.

* I do not actually know if Lammergeiers can get fat off bones.

@Liora

There was a great deal of crying and loud sobbing coming from the bird which, to an outsider, would have been considered quite pathetic. But to Liora, there was no excess to the noise that she was making. Her purpose was to garner as much attention as she possibly could, to alert one of her fathers, to get all eyes in Canis to hone in on the mean terrible black catbird looming over her with her claws pinning her down. Also to ignore the hybrid's words and pretend she didn't hear them over the cacophony of noises she was making, because Liora would be damned before she apologized for anything she'd done. As far as she was concerned, she hadn't done anything wrong! She wasn't the one messing with people, she was just having fun! This stupid cat was taking things too seriously!

Respite finally came in the form of her father, who she barely saw before she heard him cry out and remove the catbird from Liora. Temptation begged for her to scramble up and to her feet as soon as she could, but she thought better of it - instead, it took her a good long minute of laying on the ground. She spent that time sucking in a breath and finding relief in the sudden lack of weight on her back, easing comfort back into her muscles and spent wings while Aza'zel plopped the hybrid on the naughty bone pile. Granted, Liora was still crying - but now that her father was here, her loud sobs had dwindled into a rather pathetic, hiccupy sniffle as she struggled to find her breath.

Eventually she raised her head, then shuffled her wings and pushed herself up onto her feet. One foot had been grasped by the hybrid's talon, the other by her teeth - Liora chose the bitten leg to feign a limp and turned to face her father, leaning most of her weight onto her less injured foot. "Daddy!" Liora wailed and bunched her wings up against her chest, keeping a cautious distance from him and the catbird, for now. "She hurt me, I was just flyin' around and she jumped at me!" The bird crowed sadly, wide eyes stagnating on her father.

@Remedy

With a sudden flurry of larger wings, a third avian arrived. Aza'zel. Remedy tore her claws away from Liora just as the Bone King nabbed her up by the scruff. With a feeble kick, she keened her distress but dangled uselessly, at his mercy. She prayed he'd be merciful.

The King dropped her piteously into a pile of bones, and the cub shuffled uncomfortably to stand. As she found her footing, the bratty blackbird's terrible wail grated her ears. Pinning them back, as if they'd been snapped at, Remedy turned a savage look at Liora. Multicolored eyes fixed daggers on the other hybrid as she claimed innocence and made a big scene- she'd barely hurt her! Dramatic little--

"Uncle 'Zazel, she started it! I was practicin' my flyin' and I did it! I flew! But then she ruined it with her big, nasty mouth!" Remedy's every word was a vicious lashing, wings flaring at the end in a show of her own, that red tail tip swishing behind her. Her face hurt. Her side hurt. This wasn't her fault!

"She made fun of me! Started showin' off, so I was just tryin' to make her shut up! She made fun of me! She scratched my face and we tussled, sure, but it's not fair I get the blame!" She sat promptly, nodding, suddenly sure of herself.

"Pa says we gotta stick to the truth and take responsibility for our actions. Yeah, I beat her loud ass up," She looked Aza'zel straight in the eye, serious as ever. "but she deserved it. She's rotten!" With that, she rested her case, ever her father's child. Thankfully, she didn't have quite the explosive temper, or things could've gone a lot worse for both youngsters.

@Azazel @Liora

The Bone King kicked his helmet off to the side, the osseous matter clattering as it rolled away. Then his gaze returned to the two feathered children. Both objected fiercely, Liora crying out and blaming the songbird hybrid for snatching her right from the sky. Both of them had pretty nasty scratches on them, but he had to think. As Remedy admitted to beating her butt, he lifted a wing and lightly slapped the child. "That's not a very nice word, Rem'." Then he thought once more. Which did he believe in. Liora seemed to be behaving a little dramatically, but she was a drama queen most of the time anyways.

Finally, he sighed and shook his head. "Even if she said mean things to you, or if you suddenly dragged Liora out of the sky," glancing back at Liora, he frowned, as if he wasn't sure what story to believe, then turning back to Remedy, "it's not very nice to kick people's butts, Remedy." Making sure not to use such vulgar terms as the child had, (he was pretty damn sure he knew where such language came from) he spoke as seriously as he could. Part of him was laughing at the usage of the word 'Ass' just because it was coming from the tiny cub's mouth. Something about the squeaky anger of the tone was just great.

Then he decided. Raising a wing elaborately for no apparent reason at all, he spoke, "You two should probably stay away from one another. Birds of a feather fight together, not against one another." Did these children know how long Azazel wanted to reference that phrase? DID THEY?

@Liora

Quite honestly, Liora was stuck between ignoring every word that left the catbird's mouth, and listening so that she could devise a prime comeback. But she was working the whole hurt and offended ruse pretty well, and Liora feared that if she snapped something back at the stupid catbird then it would blow her cover completely. The only solution? Cry more.

In the middle of Remedy's response, the bird only titled her head back, cracking her beak open with another completely heart wrenched sob. After all, the whole fight had been traumatizing. If anybody could see from Liora's point of view, they'd find that she thought she hadn't done anything wrong. Sure, she was joking around, but did that really call for a fight? "Liora was just giving pointers! Liora did no wrong and the mean cat swatted her out of the air!" The bird crowed sadly, raising her fluffy wings to her glistening eyes again. In the back of her mind, she wondered if Remedy would ever believed the words if Liora pushed them enough. It was doubtful. Then again, why would she bother? She didn't care to be the dumb cat's friend. She was too destructive, too mean, too... inconvenient. She'd get in the way.

With a sniffle, Liora fell silent as Aza'zel turned his attention to the hybrid. She had to resist the urge to sneer through her tears - her visage remained melancholy for as long as she could muster. When her father finally decided that they should stay away from one another, Liora couldn't help but wholeheartedly agree. Yeah. Stay away from me. Oh and stay away from Ashtoreth, and my daddy, and my other daddy, and my entire home all together, okay, smelly mammal? Liora hopped back and fluttered her wings. "Fine! Liora has much better things to do anyways." The bird sniffled, her voice crackling with residual sadness. She wasted no time turning away, spreading those honed wings and taking to the air with a few flaps.

Inwardly, she was cackling. Remedy may have pinned her to the ground with her fat ass, but at the end of the day, Liora had won. After all, she'd gotten her in trouble with Aza'zel, the King.

exit Liora